James Stafford starts rape harvest in Wilts

“It was a very patchy crop over the winter and we’re in the worst patches at the moment,” he said. The 16ha (40 acres) cut so far, of the 53ha (130 acres) in total, had yielded 2.7t/ha (1.1t/acre) at 8.4% moisture.

Mr Stafford planned to cut the 20ha (50 acres) of feed barley before moving onto the later rape, followed by 28ha (70 acres) of Dalguise winter oats. “They’re lodged in a few places but are looking very good,” he said.